Peter Cornelius

Born: 24 December 1824, Mainz, Germany

Died: 26 October 1874, Mainz, Germany

Peter Cornelius was a member of Wagner’s circle at Bayreuth, and a friend of both Smetana and Berlioz.

He wrote two-and-a-half operas: Der Barbier von Bagdad, a failure in its time but since seen as the best German comic opera after Meistersinger; Der Cid, modelled on Lohengrin; and the unfinished Gunlöd, based (in proper Wagnerian style) on the Edda.